The posts in this thread are from 2006, so they are in reference to the paper exams. The CBT exams weren't available until October 2006 (for January 2007 test-takers), so if you are taking the current CBT exams, then those comments are a bit outdated. There are better threads for this buried somewhere in the SDN maze.
The CBT practice exams are sequenced differently than the paper exams and have some new passages that were not on the paper versions, so the comparison doesn't really work.
The feedback I get from current students is that the BR exams are still harder than the real exam, but not in an unrealistic way. They just don't have as many easy questions as the actual test. The weird passages are right on the mark in the WTF factor.
Exam 1 used to be the easiest (in paper form), but it has been updated in terms of difficulty. How much you improve depends on your strengths and weaknesses and your ability to find the type of mistakes you made and correct them. Feedback on Exam 1 is that PS is hard, VR is easy/medium, and BS is hard. The general opinion is that 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 are pretty right on the mark in terms of all around difficulty. Exams 3, 5, 7, and 9 are butt kickers. Exams 10-12 (given this summer in paper version) are right on the mark in terms of difficulty.
I hope this helps.
